Folding stepladder stool



1. F. HQLLIDAY.

FOLDING STEPLADDER STOOL. APPLICATION FILED1uNEI',-I9`2I.

'1,427,293 Patented Aug. 29, .1922.

stares parent orte JOHN In NOLLIDAY, or WASHINGTON, INDIANA, AssIGNoN To nmol-Inn MANUFAC- TUBING COMPANY, or WASHINGTON, INDIANA, A oonroieA'IIoN or INDIANA.

' FOLDING sTnrLADDnR swoon.

mames.

I Specification of Letters Patent. p Paielitid fling, 29, 1922.

Application madame 1, `1921. serial' No. 4745145. f

To @ZZ wmmz'z may concern:

Be It known that, JOHN l?. HoLLinAY,

a citizen of the United States,fresiding at may be folded into a compact body for earrying from place to place Without striking against other urnituraand for convenient storage when not in use. i

Folding' step-ladder stools ofk this cha-rae ter are noiv in use, many of which are dane `gerous owing to their disposition to tipr and throw the person using` them when the weight of the user vis appliednear the front of the top board of the r-ombiiieclstool and stepladder. in the use of such ladders for hanging pictures, curtains and the like requiringfrequently a long` reach in' an upward direction, the persons usingv them very 'frequently stand yupon their tees to increase their reach, thereby delivering'their Weight upon the front edge ofthe beard beyond the adjacent hinge line, causing' the board to tilt forward and frequently resulting in seri-` ous injury to the user. i

@ne ot the principal objects ot this invention is to place the hinge or ulerum of the top board so near the front edge of the ladder as to make the tilting of the board impossible when the user standson 1his toes under the conditions mentioned above.

A further object is to simplify the eon- I the .thickness of members 9, 9, and 12, 12,

struction' without in anyr manner lessening the strength and safety of the device, and also to deliver the Weight, asofi a person standing' on the stool seat or top board of thev ladder, against the end of the grain of four supporting legs thereby avoiding` any tendency to split the legs; also, to provide battens to reinforce the top board andy also to provide the proper bearing surfaces for said leg-ends.

A still further object of the invention is to provide hinges of special construction and application, and to retain them in place by means of rivets that Will also reinforce the leg-ends Where the hinges are secured to the legs and side-pieces, and which Will substantially rivet the battens to the top board.

I accomplish the above, and other-'objects is a specifica-A This invention relates to a combined step` ladder and stool for household use, which Whichiwill hereinafterappear, by thei'nechanism illustrated inthe accompanying drawing, 1n which `f Fig. l is a perspective view of the invention in openposition for use as astool or ladder. Fig. 2 1s aside view of the same in its closed or'folded condition. Fig. 3 is an under side view of the top board with the legs folded, said legs being broken away and removed for 'theimost part. Fig. is a view in side elevation of the upper portion of they invention in open condition, and Fig. is va plan vievv` of my special hinge. f Like characters otreference indicate like parts in the several views of the-drawing.

t The top board or seat member 6 is of Wood .with the 'grainrunningtransversely from rrreght to lett ot Vther device as al Whole.

lt' is strengthened and 'kept from splitting with the grain by a pair ot battens 7, 7,

Whichvare placed `neary the ends of the board lcrossvvisevof the grain as shown in Fig.

Those ends of the rbattens which arey at the step section side 'of the device are provided With bevels 8, at the proper angle to suitably slope the two side pieces 9, 9,01'1 the ladder when the squared endsof said piecesv y The are against their vrespective bevele.

battens are considerably Wider than the thickness of the side pieces oic the ladder forv the greater. distribution'of the loadto' the which to avoid clumsinpess in Aappearance are preferably thinner than the Width of the hingegleaves 10. The leavesl() :of said hinges are made of additionaly Width ras `shoyvn here and described (see Fig. 5') in or derl to afford Wider bearings Where the hinges attach, to, preventunsteady 'side movement and vibration, as when a person is standing on the ladder and reaching far f to either side.

It will be noted that the leaves l0 of the hinges, by which the legs 12 are attached,l are turned inwardly of the stool and from 901 rllhe leaves 11,

the'hinge pin, and Will becontacted by the end of the corresponding leg; in the open position of the device (see Figs. l and 4). The other leaf 11 is against the outer edge of the leg. As shown in Fig. 4 the hinge pins of the two leg` hinges are at the adjacent end of the battens 7,7, very close to the rear edge of the top board of the ladder, so that a person standing ontip toes on board G will deliver his weight directly above the fulcrum or to the front thereof and there will be no tendency for the board to tilt and cause an accident. rlhe leaves of the hinges securing the side-pieces 9 are assembled as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawing. 1 to its side piece 9 or leg 12'by means of a rivet 18, which extends through the leaf and also t-hrough the side piece or leg; rlhe leaf here serves as a bearing plate on one side of the wooden member, and the latter is securely held between said plate and the head of the rivet, which m y be reinforced with a washer as shown in Fig 3, and thus the wooden member is bound in a manner to keep it from splitting with the grain at the end. rlhe opposite hingeleaves' 10 of the side pieces 9 and legs 12 arev each secured to their respective batten 7 by a rivet 13 which extends through the leaf, hatten, and top board, the leaf here also acting as a bearing plate for the rivet and all of the members through which the 'rivet passes being permanently and securely united. In addition to a rivet fastening each hinge leaf there is a screw 15 throughthe leaf into the wooden member to prevent side-play between the leaf and wooden member. It will thus be noted that both leaves of the four' hinges are rpermanr-intly and rigidly fastened to their respective wooden members thereby' when it is folded. The bars 18, 18, will pref-` erbly be bent as shown to cause them t0 foldY more neatly.

AA large kerf 19 is madeffor a hand-hold onthe under side of the board 6.

Each leaf 11 of the hinges is securedv The article as above described is extremely portable and durable. Any weight on the top board is well distributed to the two legs and to the two side pieces of the ladder without any danger of accidentally tilting the top board and collapsing the device by an abnormal application of the load,` and the load is delivered against the end of the grain of the legs andside pieces, thereby avoiding any tendency to split them. An inspection of Fig.` e will show that the two leaves of the hinges connecting legs 12 with their battens are folded back towards each other requiredrby the stateof the art and as madenecessary by I claim x In a combined vfolding. stool and step ladder, comprising a top board and step section, under-side 'battens crossing the grain of the board and beveled at their ends next to the step-section, said step-section comprising side-pieces having their upper ends substantially :it right angles to the longitudinal grain of said pieces and. bearing against the beve-ls of the respective battens when the device is inuse'as a stool and ladder, a pair of legs having their upper ends substanti ally at right angles to the longitudinal grain of the legs, leaf hinges connecting the side pieces and legs with the respective battens, a leaf of each leg hinge being between the end of the `leg and batten when the device is in operative position with the joint of the hingeat the end of the batten and approximately under the rear edge of the top board, steps connecting said side-pieces, and braces pivotally` connecting the side-pieces and legs.

Signed at Indianapolis, indiana, this the the appended claim.

` L ith day of May, 1921.

JOI-IN1 E. ldlOlliLlDiY.` 

